Border agents crash Newsom redistricting kickoff

What happened

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and state Democratic and union leaders gathered in Los Angeles Thursday to announce plans to redraw congressional lines in response to a Republican mid-cycle redistricting effort pushed by President Donald Trump.

Newsom said the state will hold a Nov. 4 special election on a new congressional map expected to shift five seats from Republican to Democratic control, counterbalancing an imminent GOP gerrymander in Texas. Before Newsom spoke, scores of armed, masked federal Border Patrol agents amassed outside the venue.

Who said what

"Donald Trump, you have poked the bear and we will punch back," Newsom said. "“We can't stand back and watch this democracy disappear, district by district, all across this country." He said he expected the Democratic-led state legislature to approve the new district map, set to be unveiled today. But it needs voter sign-off because it would sideline the voter-approved independent redistricting commission until 2030.

Border Patrol leaders claimed their presence outside the rally was coincidental but Democrats portrayed the federal "show of force" as an "intimidation tactic," The Washington Post said, and another reason Democrats needed to win the House in 2026 and "put a check on" Trump. The appearance of Border Patrol agents was "pretty sick and pathetic," Newsom told reporters, and emblematic of "Donald Trump's America."

California is the first state "beyond Texas" to have "officially waded into the mid-decade redistricting fight," The Associated Press said, but the "partisan turf war" for control of the House could "spiral into other states," from "red Florida to blue New York," and the courts. "We need to stand up," Newsom said. "Other states need to stand up."

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What next?

The Texas Democrats who fled the state to prevent a vote on the GOP redistricting map said Thursday they would return home "under the right conditions," after California unveiled its countervailing map and the special Texas legislative session ends today. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said he will immediately call a new session to secure the new map.